It seemed as though one side of the pitch had burst into flames, as teachers and students in scarlet leapt to their feet and Andromeda Black's magically magnified voice bellowed "GRYFFINDOR WIN!" The cheering reached a peak as James Potter touched down on the grass, bringing a gloved fist to his mouth to kiss the Snitch before raising it high above his head, to a cacophony of "POT-TER! POT-TER! POT-TER!"

Before he had time to dismount from his broom, the rest of the Gryffindor team threw themselves at him. Frank Longbottom, their Keeper, roared "Nice one, Potty!" and hoisted him up onto his shoulders, yelling "Make some noise!" at the already delirious crowd. Even the Ravenclaw team seemed to think Gryffindor had deserved this one, and were coming over to shake hands and exchange congratulations.

"Good game," Gilderoy Lockhart admitted to James.

"You, too," he grinned as he clasped the Ravenclaw captain's hand.

From his vantage point on Frank's shoulders, James scanned the Gryffindor stand. Where was she?

Oh.

Lily Evans had made her way into the commentator's box and had her arm draped around Andromeda. The dark, striking girl was chatting away excitedly, and she was making Lily laugh more than James had managed in six years of failed attempts at flirting. He looked away, face scarlet, as Lily tucked a strand of soft red hair behind her ear and kissed Andromeda, lacing her fingers together with the taller girl's.

Of course. Why hadn't he worked it out sooner? He wasn't the only guy who Lily had turned down in the past two months, and there had even been a few girls who'd got their feelings bruised. And all this time, Lily and Andromeda had been drawing closer and closer together, despite Narcissa's and, particularly, Bellatrix's horror that their sister was hanging out with a Muggleborn. Besides that, according to some of the Gryffindor boys, Andromeda was at least an eight out of ten ("nine if she wasn't a Slytherin"), whereas Lily had once told James that he was "a four at best". He hadn't stood a chance from the word go.

At least he had someone to fall back on.

Peripherally, he spotted several figures running towards him across the pitch. "Prongs! Prongs!"

That was his cue to jump down from Frank's shoulders and fall into a crushing hug from Remus and Peter and -

"Where's Padfoot?" he said a little more sharply than he'd intended.

Peter didn't seem to hear him, gushing, "You won, we won, we won the Quidditch cup…"

Remus looked at James with his signature slight frown creasing his forehead. "Prongs, he's really sorry… Professor Binns doesn't really get the idea that Quidditch is pretty important to kids in the twentieth century…"

James felt his heart sink into his stomach. "He's in detention?"

"Yeah, look, even McGonagall thinks it's really unfair, but she didn't find out until too late -"

"It's not your fault," James said gruffly. "I'm going to get changed. See you at the party later on."

He knew he was being selfish and he couldn't bring himself to care. He felt deflated. In the Gryffindor changing room, he stripped to his underwear and ran out of energy to get dressed again, so he sat down on a bench and buried his face in his hands, ready to blame his weird behaviour on post-match exhaustion if anyone asked.

The next moment, a familiar voice was yelling, "Let me through, I have a backstage pass!" and James got to his feet just in time before Sirius Black slammed him into the wall, squeezing him so hard he thought his ribs might crack.

"Backstage pass?" James managed to croak, shaking with laughter against the taller boy. "Padfoot, do you actually know anything about sports?"

"I saw a Bludger up close once," Sirius grinned, finally releasing him. "But that was only because Bellatrix was trying to kill me with it. Well done, by the way." His hair was tied up in an untidy bun, and with his silver nose ring and smudgy eyeliner, he looked like some kind of wayward rock star. "Anyway, not that I'm insinuating anything, but we just won the Quidditch cup, and you're practically naked, and there's an empty shower cubicle over there…"

James smirked and ignored him. "What d'you get detention for, you loser?" He checked over his shoulder to make sure no one was looking, then reached down and pinched Sirius' arse affectionately.

"Can't even remember. Probably for being so hot I was distracting everyone from their work."

"Oh, really." James lowered his voice. "C'mon. Shower cubicle."

Sirius widened his eyes in mock disbelief. "Prongs! People will talk!"

"Let them. If Lily Evans is going round snogging your cousin in public, I'll bloody well snog you in the changing room showers." The moment the words had left his mouth, he hated himself even for thinking them. "Wait, Padfoot, I didn't mean -"

"I get it." Sirius' face had fallen. "This is you getting back at Evans."

"No, you arsehole. You know it's not like that." He pulled Sirius into the cubicle, closing the curtain behind them. "The thing with Lily - with Evans doesn't mean I feel any differently about you. You're the most important person in my life, and absolutely nothing's gonna change that. And besides that -"

"Prongs, I think this is the part where I tell you to shut up and make out with me."

James obliged, pushing Sirius up against the wall in the back of the cubicle and kissing him. It was rough and messy and their teeth clashed several times, but in that moment they couldn't have cared less about the finer details. James pinned Sirius' hands above his head with one arm and wound his free hand into the messily tied dark hair, his crotch brushing Sirius' thigh. "God, Padfoot…"

"Yeah," Sirius breathed.

James tore away from his mouth and started to press sucking kisses on his neck, his hips thrusting forward so that they were grinding shamelessly against each other. His free hand slid down and curled around Sirius' throat. "Padfoot - fuck, Sirius…"

"Want you to give it to me so hard later," Sirius whispered. "After the party, I'm yours…uhh, Prongs…"

At that precise point, they were interrupted by a deafening "AYYYYYYYYYY!"

They both jumped and snapped round, still somewhat tangled together. Frank, who was tall enough to see over the top of the cubicle, was peering in, grinning wickedly. "Well scored, Jamesy-boy; he's out of your league."

James pulled a face. "Y'know who isn't out of my league?"

"Your mum," finished Sirius. They high-fived each other in recognition of their teamwork.

"Laters, you animals. Get some self-control. God." Frank retreated, chuckling to himself.

Sirius took advantage of the fact that James had freed his hands and used them to grab James' arse, setting the pace again. They moved slower this time, James tugging Sirius' lower lip between his teeth. He pushed Sirius' shirt up to his armpits and dragged his thumbnails across Sirius' pierced nipples, making him whine and buck his hips, sliding one hand in between them to palm James' cock through his boxers. James moaned obscenely, rutting against Sirius' hand. "Padfoot - fuck - if you do that for much longer I'm gonna come…"

"That's the idea," Sirius smirked, sinking onto his knees.

"Nice one, Potter!" crowed the voice of one of the Gryffindor Chasers. Frank had hoisted him up so that he could see into the cubicle, and both of them looked delighted with themselves.

"Hey, Black, have I seen you on the Quidditch pitch? You look like a Keeper to me, right, Johnson? Ayyyy," Frank ducked as Sirius pelted a bar of soap at his head.

James heaved a sigh. "Later?"

"Later," Sirius agreed.